A Simple Question: The Story of STRAW - Featuring The Bay Institute's STRAW Program - Premieres in San Francisco on October 21

A Simple Question: The Story of STRAW - Featuring The Bay Institute's STRAW Program - Premieres in San Francisco on October 21

NOVATO, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bay Institute today announced the world premiere of A Simple Question: The Story of STRAW at the San Francisco Public Library. Produced by Kevin White and David Donnenfield of Filmmakers Collaborative SF, A Simple Question is an inspiring documentary about students and teachers restoring a watershed, and a program that has galvanized the local community and led to significant educational innovation.

The premiere is free to the public at 6 pm on October 21 at the Koret Auditorium, Main Library, Lower Level, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. The filmmakers and STRAW leaders will hold a Q&A session following the screening. A trailer of the film is available at www.asimplequestion.org.

STRAW grew out of the Shrimp Project, begun in 1992 by a fourth-grade class at Brookside School in Marin County. The class wanted to do something about the problem of endangered species, and chose to focus on California freshwater shrimp. The class pioneered methods for students to conduct professional restoration of riparian corridors that provide habitat for the shrimp and other threatened and endangered species, and word spread about the Shrimp Project's accomplishments.

Seventeen years later, The Bay Institute's STRAW program sustains a network of teachers, students and restoration specialists that plans and implements watershed studies and restoration projects in Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties.

"Since 1998, over 25,000 students have participated in 275 restorations on rural and urban creeks, installing over 24,000 native plants resulting in the restoration of 100,000 linear feet of creek banks," stated The Bay Institute's Watershed Education Director Laurette Rogers, who was the teacher who initiated The Shrimp Project at Brookside. "While it's grown over the years, STRAW is still a community-based grassroots program, and our next step is teaching other communities how to replicate our success."

About The Bay Institute

The Bay Institute is the leader in protecting, restoring and inspiring conservation of the San Francisco Bay and its watershed -- from the Sierra to the sea. For 28 years, it has been developing and leading model scientific research, education and advocacy programs to preserve California's most important natural resource. Additional information is available at www.bay.org.

Source: The Bay Institute

CONTACT: Michele Bernhardt of The Bay Institute, +1-415-623-5343,
michele@bay.org

Web Site: http://www.asimplequestion.org/
http://www.bay.org/

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